bareMinerals Blemish Remedy Foundation & Seamless Buffing Brush

My blemish history goes something like this – as a teenager and young adult my skin was unpredictable, I didn’t have full-on acne, but my often hormonal flare-ups prompted me to seek help from my GP on more than one occasion. I was prescribed treatments including various ‘skin friendly’ contraceptive pills (too mood altering) and benzoyl peroxide (too drying).

I’m still prone to the occasional breakout – including on my chest and back – and my teenage years are now a distant memory! But while other skin stresses have been more of a focus as I age, I love mineral make-up so have been giving this a good trial and am now ready to deliver my verdict…

The formulation of Blemish Remedy (£26) seems slightly finer than bareMinerals’ Original Mineral Foundation, which is a bit surprising considering it’s meant to be aimed at blemished skin.

The Seamless Buffing Brush (£24) looks good but is a different shape to the other bareMinerals brushes; it is said to ‘effortlessly blur imperfections’ with the ‘swirl, tap, buff’ technique, but to be honest I prefer to use my old faithfuls as they seem to work better for me than this one.

To get the level of coverage I like (and to cover any larger blemishes and areas of redness), I feel as though I have to do at least two applications. But it is of course buildable, gives a natural, matte finish and staying power is good, lasting most of the day. It doesn’t dry out the skin either.

And if you’re prone to spots, the added ingredients including aspen bark, tea tree oil and salicylic acid are said to help promote clearer, healthier looking skin. Plus its non comedogenic, so won’t clog pores.

The shade I have been testing is Clearly Pearl 02, which is neutral in tone and spot on for my pale winter skin.